Irvington High School traveled to Cupertino Tuesday, Dec. 1, to take on the Homestead High School Mustangs in the Vikings first regular season game for the 2009-10 year. It was the first varsity game that counted for new Irvington Coach Tim Gerber Jr. A 2004 graduate of IHS, Gerber coached the Irvington JV team last year and the frosh team two years ago.

Homestead jumped out to a 19-11 lead after one quarter and extended it to 37-26 at halftime. Irvington fought back in the third quarter and took its first lead at 46-45 late in the third quarter only to have the Mustangs bury a 3-pointer to retake the lead 48-46 going into the final quarter.

Irvington was able to stay close in the fourth quarter and they had an open 3-point shot to tie the game at the buzzer but failed to get it off to give Homestead a 62-59 victory.

Leading scorers for the Vikings were junior point guard Shaun Ho with 16 points including two 3-point field goals and senior forward Rishi Mahendru with 10 points. Other Irvington scores were Thomas Tai, Dante Smith, Jon Wright, Anthony Dugger and Josh Hsieh.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, Irvington returned home to take on Leadership High School of Richmond and the Vikings evened their record at 1-1 with a runaway, 60-20 win. For the Vikings, senior Steven Gomez had eight points; Mahendru tossed in seven; and Dugger and Ho each had six.

According to Coach Gerber, "We were excellent from the line in the pre season, shooting just over 80% as a team," said Gerber of the team's foul shooting in the two games, going 4-15 combined. "I guess its back to a work in progress."

In other boys hoops action last Tuesday, Dec. 1, Mt. Eden High School defeated Moreau Catholic High School, 67-43. Leading MC was Andy Mitchell and Jeff Becker, each with 14 points.

Thursday, Dec. 3, James Logan High School beat Granada High School, 57-33, while MC fell to San Rafael High School, 68-52. For Logan, Terrell Gates lead with 13 points. Leading MC was Mitchell with 13 points and TJ Booker with 10.

Weekend play on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4-5, saw MC lose its third straight, this time to John F. Kennedy High School, 73-65; Logan took its first loss, 77-57, to Castro Valley High School; and Mt. Eden fell to Granada, 44-39.

Top scorers for MC were Becker, 17 points, with Booker and Kris Okialda each scoring 15. Logan was led by Larry Jones' 14 points and Gates' 12. Antoine McKinzie had 15 points in Mt. Eden's losing effort.

For a complete rundown of results in all sports, as well as the upcoming schedules, athletes of the month and articles you can't find in print, log onto the Tri-City Voice Sports Web site, www.tricityvoice.com/sports.